Higher Male Vocal Register

Abram Poliakoff

I’m Abram from 30 Day Singer and here are some exercises to help you sing higher with less effort. I’m going to go over 3 essential components that will help you make considerable progress expanding your higher range. 

1. Flexibility

The first component is to have flexibility and relaxation around your vocal tract. In some cases it's as simple as you need to spend some time stretching your lower back, neck and shoulders. More particularly we want the external muscles to feel separate and disconnected from our vocal tract. 

When you sing the syllable Yah, focus on having only the heel or back of your tongue move up and down and don’t let your jaw follow. Focus on your breath pushing down and out for the first note and then relaxing for the second. This should feel like a sigh, so allow yourself to sink into it a bit and continue to stretch from the inside out. The more you create space here in the back of your throat the easier your higher notes will become. 

2. Support

We need a solid support connection in order to sing high notes. This is where all the power comes from, but each pitch and vowel shape we sing has a specific range of support needed to function optimally. Too little and you sing flat or strain, too much and press into your sound creating a harshness that eventually can stop your airflow. 

Let’s practice this on a simple Mah pattern. The first Mah doesn’t take too much active support energy, only an ample amount of resonant space, while the second one requires your belly and back to engage, pushing down and out. Then the last Mah goes back to a more relaxed feeling.

3. Work on head voice

Learning how to access your head voice helps you find the right placement for your higher belting or mixed sound. It's also objectively the only way to sing your highest notes. Let's do an exercise to condition our head voice. We want lots of internal space for this so it’s almost as if you are singing an Ah, but you sing WEE instead.  Feel your support engage on the higher pitch and then relax for the lower note. Alright let's give it a try!

Awesome! The key to success here is a deliberate practice like this and consistency. It’s way healthier to condition and stretch your voice over time, so stay patient and good luck!